HIPAA

 

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION

The following categories describe the ways we may use and disclose your medical information. We are unable to describe every possible way that we may use or disclose medical information under each category below. However, all of the ways we are permitted or required to use and disclose information will fall into one of the categories.

 

For Treatment.   We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical treatment.  We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, therapists, or other persons who are involved in taking care of you. For example, specialists may need access to your health information. A doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know that you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. The doctor may also need to involve the dietitian, the pharmacist and therapist in your treatment plan. Different departments of a location also may share medical information about you in order to coordinate your care and provide you with medication, lab work and x-rays. We may also disclose medical information about you to people outside this location who may assist in transitioning your care to community providers, or directly to community providers that may be involved in your care after discharge. This may include visiting nurses that provide care in your home. In addition, we may disclose medical information about you to your healthcare services providers following your discharge.

For Payment.  We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and services you receive may be billed to you, an insurance company, or a third party. For example, in order to be paid, we may need to share information with your health plan about services that Genesis provided to you. We may also tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.

For Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose medical information about you for health care operations, such as in conducting quality assessment and improvement activities, including outcomes evaluation and development of clinical guidelines, case management and care coordination.   This is necessary to ensure that all of our residents/patients receive quality care. For example, we may use medical information to review our services for quality improvement or compliance activities. We may combine medical information about groups of residents/patients to evaluate our programs. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses, therapists and other Genesis personnel for review and learning purposes. We may remove information that identifies you so others may see it to study health care and health care delivery without learning the identities of residents/patients. 

We may disclose protected health information to another covered entity for health care operations activities of the entity that receives the information, if that each entity provided or will be consulted to provide treatment to you.  These disclosures may be made when the  protected health information will pertain to such treatment, and the disclosure is for health care operations related to those providers, or for the purpose of health care fraud and abuse detection or compliance.

 

OTHER  ALLOWABLE USES OF YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION 

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. Unless you object, we may disclose medical information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your care. We may also give information to someone who helps pay for your care. We will only disclose the information which is directly relevant to the person’s involvement in your care or payment related to your care. 

We may disclose medical information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about your condition, status and location. 

Our Practices.

• We may post your birthday or other special event on a calendar or bulletin board that is visible to the public.
• We may include your name and/or photo in an internal newsletter or other publication, including information regarding your admission, discharge, memorial or obituary information.  
• We may display your name on a place (name) card at the dining room table.
• We may display your photo on a bulletin board within the center.  However, we will not give photographs of you to anyone outside of our location unless we have your permission.  

Business Associates. There are some services provided in our organization through contracts with business associates. Examples include outside attorneys and a copy service we use when making copies of your health record. When we contract with a business associate to provide these services, we may disclose your medical information so they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do. We do require that the business associate appropriately safeguards your information.

Directory Information. Unless you notify us that you object, we will use your name, room number in the facility, general condition, and religious affiliation for directory purposes. This information may be provided to members of the clergy and, except for religious affiliation, to other people who ask for you by name.

Research. Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose medical information about you for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the health and recovery of all residents/patients who received one medication to those who received another for the same condition. A special approval process evaluates a proposed research project before it is implemented. Before we use or disclose your medical information for research, the project will have been approved through this process. We may, however, disclose medical information about you to people preparing to conduct a research study so long as the medical information they review does not leave the Genesis location.

Health Information Exchange. If we participate in a Health Information Exchange or “HIE”, as permitted by law, we may share your health information electronically with this exchange in order to provide faster access to information and improved coordination of care to assist providers and others in making more informed decisions. If we participate in an HIE, you will have the opportunity to opt out or in some cases you will be asked to consent to the exchange of information. If you opt out or withhold your consent to the exchange of information through the HIE, your personal health information will continue to be used in accordance with this Notice and the law, but will not be made available through the HIE. If we participate in an HIE, we will do so in a manner that protects the confidentiality, privacy, and security of your information.

Health Care Benefits and Reminders. We may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Workers’ Compensation. We may disclose medical information to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to workers compensation or other similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related illness or injuries.

Reporting. Federal and state laws may require or permit Genesis to disclose certain medical information related to the following:

• Public health risks:
  
  • prevention or control of disease, injury or disability
  • reporting births and deaths
  • reporting child abuse or neglect
  • reporting reactions to medications or problems with products
  • notifying people of product recalls
  • notifying persons who may have been exposed to a disease
• Reporting abuse, neglect or domestic violence: Notifying the appropriate government agency if we believe a resident/patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.
• Health oversight: We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency for activities such as audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure.
• Judicial and Administrative proceedings: If you are involved in a lawsuit or dispute, we may disclose medical information about you in response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process.

Law Enforcement. We may disclose your medical information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena.

Correctional Institution. Should you be an inmate of a correctional institution, we may disclose to the institution or its agents medical information necessary for your health and the health and safety of others.

Funeral Directors, Medical Examiners, and Coroners. We may disclose medical information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also disclose medical information to funeral directors as necessary.

Organ and Tissue Donation. If you are an organ donor, we may disclose medical information to organizations that handle organ procurement to facilitate donation and transplantation.

As Required by Law. Genesis may use or disclose medical information if the use or disclosure is required by law and the use or disclosure complies with and is limited to the relevant requirements of the law.

Genesis may, in accordance with the law, disclose medical information that it believes in good faith is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or public. Genesis would disclose such information to a person reasonably able to prevent or lessen the serious and imminent threat.

OTHER USES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION

Other uses and disclosures of medical information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written permission. This includes most disclosures of psychotherapy notes, the use of your medical information for marketing purposes, disclosures that constitute the sale of medical information, and other uses and disclosures not described in this Notice.  If you provide us permission to use or disclose medical information about you, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose medical information about you for the reasons covered by your written permission. You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and that we are required to retain our records of the care that we provided to you. You also will be unable to revoke written permission to disclose medical information that you gave as a condition of obtaining insurance coverage where the law allows the insurer to contest a claim under the policy or the policy itself.